JAY LENO DELIVERS #1 RESULTS FOR THE LATE-NIGHT WEEK OF AUG. 20-24, TOPPING THE ABC AND CBS SLOT COMPETITION IN ALL KEY CATEGORIES

JAY GENERATES BIGGER AUDIENCES THAN HIS ABC AND CBS TIME-PERIOD COMPETITION IN ADULTS, MEN AND WOMEN 18-34, 18-49 AND 25-54, PLUS TOTAL VIEWERS

JIMMY FALLON BEATS ‘LATE LATE’ ENCORES IN ALL KEY MEASURES AND OUT-DELIVERS ‘KIMMEL’ HEAD TO HEAD FOR THEIR COMMON HALF-HOUR IN ADULTS 18-34, 18-49 AND 25-54, PLUS TOTAL VIEWERS

SEASON TO DATE, JAY HAS STRETCHED HIS TOTAL-VIEWER LEAD OVER ‘LATE SHOW’ TO 22 PERCENT FROM THE YEAR-AGO 14 PERCENT; JIMMY FALLON HAS INCREASED HIS MARGIN OVER ‘LATE LATE SHOW’ TO 21 PERCENT , UP FROM LAST YEAR’S 6 PERCENT

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. – August 30, 2012 – NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” has out-delivered the ABC and CBS time-period competition for the week of August 20-24, generating bigger audiences than CBS’s “Late Show with David Letterman” and ABC’s combination of “Nightline” and “Jimmy Kimmel Live” head to head for the hour in every key ratings category: adults, men and women 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54, plus total viewers.

At 12:35 a.m. ET, Jimmy Fallon also prevailed in every key category versus CBS’s encores of “Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson,” while delivering bigger audiences than “Kimmel” head to head in their common half-hour in adults 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54; men 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54; and adults and men 25-54, plus total viewers.

Through the first 49 weeks of the 2011-12 broadcast year, "Tonight" has increased its total-viewer margin over "Late Show" to 22 percent (3.663 million vs. 2.995 million), up from the year-ago season-to-date advantage of 14 percent, while stretching its 25-54 advantage to 11 percent (1.402 million vs. 1.266 million) from last year’s 8 percent and its 18-34 lead to 25 percent (345,000 vs. 276,000) from last year’s 23 percent.

Jimmy Fallon has established a total-viewer lead over "Late Late Show" this season of 21 percent (1.747 million vs. 1.438 million), up from last year's advantage of 6 percent. Jimmy has also increased his season-to-date lead over "Late Late Show" in adults 18-49 to 23 percent (703,000 vs. 570,000), up from last year’s 21 percent; in adults 18-34 to 53 percent (273,000 vs. 178,000), up from last year's 29 percent; and in adults 25-54 to 17 percent (842,000 vs. 720,000), up from 7 percent at this point last season.

"Tonight" delivered a bigger 18-49 audience than "Late Show" for the 30th time in their last 34 head-to-head weeks (excludes weeks of Olympic preemptions) and 12th week in a row, while Jimmy Fallon has attracted a bigger 18-49 audience than "Late Late Show" for each of their last 37 head-to-head weeks.

WEEKLY AVERAGES

(According to in-home viewing figures from Nielsen Media Research for the week of August 20-24. Ratings reflect “live plus same day” data from Nielsen Media Research unless otherwise noted. Season-to-date figures are averages of “live plus seven day” data except for the two most recent weeks, which are “live plus same day.”)

ADULTS 18-49

11:35 p.m.-12:35 a.m. ET

NBC “Tonight,” 0.8 rating, 3 share

CBS “Late Show,” 0.5/2*

11:35 p.m.-12 midnight ET

ABC “Nightline,” 0.7/3

12 midnight-1 a.m. ET

ABC “Kimmel,” 0.4/2*

12:35-1:35 a.m. ET
NBC “Late Night,” 0.5/3

CBS “Late Late Show,” 0.3/2 (in encore telecasts)*

1:35-2:05 a.m. ET

NBC “Last Call,” 0.3/2 (in encore telecasts)

TOTAL VIEWERS

11:35 p.m.-12:35 a.m. ET

NBC “Tonight,” 3.3 million viewers

CBS “Late Show,” 2.3 million viewers*

11:35 p.m.-12 midnight ET

ABC “Nightline,” 3.3 million viewers

12 midnight-1 a.m. ET

ABC “Kimmel,” 1.6 million viewers*

12:35-1:35 a.m. ET

NBC “Late Night,” 1.5 million viewers

CBS “Late Late Show,” 1.1 million viewers (in encore telecasts)*

1:35-2:05 a.m. ET

NBC “Last Call,” 0.8 million viewers (in encore telecasts)

* Friday’s “Late Show” and “Late Late Show” were delayed by an NFL overrun and are excluded from these averages. Friday’s “Kimmel” was an encore.

So people still believe he did that because he’s such a good person? Haven’t you learned anything from History?

“There’s a good reason why nobody studies history. It just teaches you too much.”

Steve

Any guesses on when NBC will make an announcement that they’re changing 11:30?

GARebelman

I don’t come here for a few days and geez yall talk a lot I think they should change this to the “Late Night Jay Leno Hate week of August 20-24 2012″ from the looks

I am scared to see where Dave’s total viewers land next week and last with just a 5 minute pre-emption his 56 meters sinks to what a 12:35 show would pull.

Danny

I haven’t praised Letterman’s writers in 10 years at least…although other than the top ten, not much need for writers as there’s little original comedy pieces anymore.

anonymous

What does it matter to anybody except the networks who Letterman or Leno hire? If you had a show that was making hundreds of millions of dollars for the networks, wouldn’t you hire as many of your friends as possible? You’d be lying if you didn’t.

http://tvbythenumbers.com Bill Gorman

“What does it matter to anybody except the networks who Letterman or Leno hire? If you had a show that was making hundreds of millions of dollars for the networks, wouldn’t you hire as many of your friends as possible? You’d be lying if you didn’t.”

Well, Dave’s production company owns his show, so presumably is paid a per episode fee from CBS and then the production company pays its own expenses including salaries. So those salaries are coming out of Dave’s pocket (so to speak). Unlikely he’s making uneconomic hires in that case.

Not sure about Leno’s show, but I don’t think he owns it.

Aaron

Leno’s own production company produces the Tonight Show but NBC owns the show itself.

Brad

What’s Leno’s production company called? Big Dog?

Aaron

Yes, Brad.

Mario

Bill Gorman, you think Leno will go or stay past 9/2013?

You have any way of finding out?

Brad

The more we wait to here what NBC will do with Leno, the more I think they will revamp NBC next year with that being new faces. Whatever they can do to make NBC interesting again, they will.

Brad

May I have your attention please.

Jay Leno has taken about a 50% pay cut and is now taking in $15 million annually. He is now RESIGNED, extending his contract until May 2014.

“Mr. Leno, the leading late night host, extended his contract for another two years to May 2014.” – So this means that Jay’s contract was due last May.
—–
Meanwhile, Mr. Greenblatt hasn’t spoken to the 62-year-old host about ending his 20-year-reign at “Tonight.” “That’s a conversation we’ll have as we look down the road,” he said.
When?
Mr. Greenblatt didn’t know for certain, but said “I’m sure there will be a day when these guys—Letterman and Leno—wake up and say, ‘It’s time for us to exit gracefully.'”
—–
So Letterman and Leno has transformed late night into a pissing contest: who’s going to be the last “to exit gracefully”.
We already know that Jay does not comprende the term “exit gracefully”.

anonymous

wsj

Late-night talk show host Jay Leno took a 50% pay cut as part of NBC’s budget-chopping effort last month at “The Tonight Show,” the network said, detailing the scope of the changes for the first time as well as the reasoning behind them.

The outsized pay cut, which took Mr. Leno’s salary down to around $15 million, helped NBC slash the show’s $100 million annual budget by about 20%, the network said. At the same time, Mr. Leno, the leading late night host, extended his contract for another two years to May 2014.

Jay Leno, shown last year, extended his contract for another two years to May 2014.
.The mid-August cutbacks were widely covered in the media but without precise details from the network. At the time, most news reports said that Mr. Leno took a significant pay cut. NBC also clarified the number of layoffs, which it put at 20, among them writers and producers, reducing the show’s staff to about 200

anonymous

wsj

The network’s entertainment chief, Robert Greenblatt, on Thursday night confirmed previous reports that the cuts were aimed at reversing tens of millions of dollars in budget increases implemented when Mr. Leno’s show was moved to prime-time briefly in 2009. NBC shifted the show back to 11.35 p.m. when the move failed to attract more viewers—yet the larger budget remained.

“All we did was bring it back down to pre-prime-time levels,” Mr. Greenblatt said in an interview from his Los Angeles office.

He acknowledged, however, that “Tonight” is “not the cash cow it was in the Johnny Carson days,” although he said it was still profitable.

anonymous

wsj

Late-night broadcasts have taken a hit over the years as audiences scatter to the Web and cable-TV shows such as “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart” on Viacom Inc.’s VIAB +1.74%Comedy Central. While “Tonight” remains the king of the late talk hours, its average total audience between last September and early August shrank 5% from the year before, according to Nielsen data provided by NBC. Most other late-night shows have seen similar declines.

Advertising, too, has dropped. “Tonight’s” ad revenue fell to $159 million last year from $255 million in 2007, according to Kantar Media, while “Late Show With David Letterman,” on CBS Corp.’s CBS +3.58%network, slumped to $155 million from $205 million over the same period.

Among the exceptions to the ratings trend has been Jimmy Kimmel’s midnight show on ABC. The budget reductions at Tonight came just days before the Walt Disney DIS +2.11%Co.-owned network announced it was moving Mr. Kimmel to 11.35 p.m. to go head to head with Mr. Leno and CBS’s David Letterman.

At the time, there was speculation that NBC would move Jimmy Fallon, a younger comic who has a show at 12.35 a.m. to replace Mr. Leno, to combat ABC’s move, an idea undermined by Mr. Leno’s contract extension. Mr. Greenblatt said that he is “unfazed by Kimmel,” though he may “siphon off some young hipsters from Letterman.”

anonymous

wsj

Since his arrival to NBC in early 2011, Mr. Greenblatt has been trying to lift the network’s sagging prime-time ratings, while reducing the hundreds of millions of dollars it loses every year.

“Everything is less profitable these days, including the prime-time schedule,” said Mr. Greenblatt.

Mr. Greenblatt said he noticed the bulge in “Tonight’s” budget last spring, after he had finished introducing his first full season of prime-time programming. “I went to his [Leno’s] office and we sat down and I said, ‘We have to be smart about how we do this show. We are in a difficult place at the network’…He understood.”

Mr. Greenblatt said that the budget reboot won’t change the quality of the late-night production.

Mr. Leno agreed. “We are just going to work harder and more efficiently,” the host said in an email. “Our job is to be sure that none of this shows up on screen.”

Meanwhile, Mr. Greenblatt hasn’t spoken to the 62-year-old host about ending his 20-year-reign at “Tonight.” “That’s a conversation we’ll have as we look down the road,” he said.

When?

Mr. Greenblatt didn’t know for certain, but said “I’m sure there will be a day when these guys—Letterman and Leno—wake up and say, ‘It’s time for us to exit gracefully.'”

Until that happens, Mr. Leno is taking one day at a time. “Our biggest challenge is the change in viewing habits,” he said. “We fight daily the DVR and online viewing, but we show up to work 5 days a week to make the show as topical, newsworthy, relatable and funny as possible.”

Aaron

How much time does Dave take to rehearse for his show nowadays? He does two tapings in a day (I forget which day of the week) so it must be very minimal.